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A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study has implications for predicting coral reef survival and developing mitigation strategies against having their bony skeletons weakened by ocean acidification. Though coral reefs make up less than one percent of the ocean floor, these ecosystems are among the most biodiverse on the planet – with over a million species estimated to be associated with reefs. The coral species that make up these reefs are known to be differently sensitive or resilient to ocean acidification – the result of increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide levels. But scientists are not sure why.

In the study, researchers show that the crystallization rate of coral skeletons differs across species and is correlated with their resilience to acidification.

“Many agencies keep...

The great diversity of scientific techniques and methods used in the study of marine microplastics pollution limits the current knowledge of this serious environmental problem threatening our ecosystems. This is the main conclusion of a study carried out by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) that reviews the research carried out to measure the presence of microplastics in the coastal areas and seawater of the Mediterranean Sea, both in the sea surface water, seawater column and in marine sediments.

The conclusions show that the levels of microplastics in the Mediterranean are probably higher than estimated, but the methods used are not capable of recording them. 

Microplastic pollution is one of the environmen...

COP26 President Alok Sharma has warned that progress made during the summit is at risk of “withering on the vine”. Mr Sharma said that the agreements reached at the Glasgow climate meeting had been a “fragile win” for the world. But unless the commitments made are turned into action this year, the chances of keeping global temperatures in check will be lost. 

Quoting from the popular film, Don’t Look Up, he said this was no time to “sit tight and assess”.

• What was agreed at COP26?
• Evasive words and coal compromise, but deal shows progress
• Green label plan for gas and nuclear prompts EU row

The UN’s COP26 climate summit in November ended with a deal being struck in a bid to stave off severe climate change...

The monster iceberg A68 was dumping more than 1.5 billion tonnes of fresh water into the ocean every single day at the height of its melting. To put that in context, it’s about 150 times the amount of water used daily by all UK citizens. A68 was, for a short period, the world’s biggest iceberg.

It covered an area of nearly 6,000 sq km (2,300 sq miles) when it broke free from Antarctica in 2017. But by early 2021, it had vanished.

One trillion tonnes of ice, gone.

• How a colossal block of ice became an obsession
• Iceberg that became a social media star melts away
• Polar seafloor exposed after 50 years of ice cover
• The museum at the end of the world reopens at last

Researchers are currently busy trying to gauge the impact A68 had on the environment.

And a team led from Leeds Un...

Marine explorers have discovered a “pristine” 3km (2-mile) coral reef at depths of 30m (100ft) off the coast of Tahiti, French Polynesia. It is one of the largest discovered at that depth, says the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, which led the mission. Dr Julian Barbiere, from Unesco, said there were probably many more of these ecosystems “we just don’t know about”. 

“We should be working to map them and to protect them,” he said. 

Unesco director general Audrey Azoulay said the “remarkable” discovery extended our knowledge of “what lies beneath”. 

The reef was found in November, during a diving expedition to a depth known as the ocean’s “twilight zone” – part of a global seabed-mapping mission. 

French underwater photographer Alexis Ros...

Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Met Office analysed worldwide policies and found that on the “current trajectory” the Paris Agreement’s aim of limiting warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is slipping out of reach. There could be global warming of 4C by the end of this century despite pledges made at the COP26 climate summit, according to a new report.

Researchers from the University of Exeter and the Met Office analysed worldwide policies and found that on the “current trajectory” the Paris Agreement‘s aim of limiting warming to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels is slipping out of reach.

Professor Richard Betts, who led the research, said the agreements made at COP26 in Glasgow “have reduced the likelihood” of warming reaching 4C “but it remains possible”.

Pollution from plastics is a global emergency in need of a robust UN treaty, according to a report. The Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) says there’s a cascade of evidence of harm from plastics. It argues that the plastic pollution threat is almost equivalent to climate change. The air we breathe now contains plastic micro particles, there’s plastic in Arctic snow, plastic in soils and plastic in our food.

It’s reported, for instance, that about 20 elephants in Thailand have died after eating plastic waste from a rubbish dump.

The authors urge nations to agree a UN treaty with binding targets for reducing both plastic production and waste.

“There is a deadly ticking clock counting swiftly down,” said the EIA’s Tom Gammage. 

“If this tidal wave of pollution continu...

The new study, published on 13 January 2022 in the journal Global Change Biologyand conducted by scientists at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, revealed that rising ocean temperatures due to climate change have significantly changed the locations and timings of tiger shark migration patterns in the western North Atlantic Ocean. 

Tiger sharks prefer tropical and warm to temperate seas and have historically not been found in the waters off the northeastern coastline of the USA. However, warming ocean temperatures now also make these previously unattractive habitats suitable for the cold-blooded predator. 

Neil Hammerschlag, director of the UM Shark Research and Conservation Program and lead author of the study, explained: “Tiger shark annual...

The ocean is now warmer than it’s ever been in recent history, according to a new study. And this isn’t the first time such a record has been set. For the past six years, ocean temperatures have exceeded each previous year in a trend one scientist calls “inexorable.”

Human-induced climate change is to blame, says John Abraham, co-author of the new study published Jan. 11 in Advances in Atmospheric Sciences.

 “We should be very concerned,” Abraham, a professor of thermal sciences at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota, U.S, told Mongabay in a video interview. “But frankly, we should have been concerned years ago.”

The research team used a network of high-tech autonomous ocean buoys to measure global ocean temperatures, which they compared to data from the 195...

The past seven years have been the hottest on record, according to new data from the EU’s satellite system.

The Copernicus Climate Change Service said 2021 was the fifth-warmest year, with record-breaking heat in some regions.

And the amount of warming gases in our atmosphere continued to increase. 

Governments are committed to limiting global temperature rise to 1.5C to curb climate change. But scientists warn that time is fast running out.

The environmental, human and economic costs of hotter temperatures are already being seen globally. 

Europe lived through its warmest summer, and temperature records in western US and Canada were broken by several degrees. Extreme wildfires in July and August burnt almost entire towns to the ground and killed hundreds. 

“These events...